Thursday, 18 April 2013

Ecologized

Well I can’t really say that spring took me totally by surprise, but I’m still feeling
slightly shell shocked! The ecological surveying has now kicked-off with reptiles,
mammals, birds, amphibians, and roving records for macro-invertebrates such as butterflies; I am constantly trying to keep up with scheduling it all in!

Moschatel flowering along the banks of Gatwick Stream, LERL

Luckily I have keen volunteer ecology
students and graduates assisting me who I'm enjoying showing around the place. So far we have
successfully added several previously unrecorded birds on site, recorded our first Grass Snakes and butterflies of the year, started our Signal Crayfish removal from the River Mole and got our first confirmed Dormouse presence since our Biodiversity Action Plan began! Here are some pics just from this past week:

Signal Crayfish trapping with volunteer ecologist Julian

An invasive species: the American Signal Crayfish fresh out of the River Mole

One of our Mink tracking rafts repaired, re-sited and (I think) cleverly camouflaged along the River Mole

Rather odd-looking tracks in the mud along the River Mole, NWZ. Any ideas? Not likely to be Water Voles here but it almost looks like there is webbing between the toes.

Spring seemed to really hit here on Monday, and I got so many wildlife
reports from around the airport I could barely keep up! Other sightings this week included Tadpoles,Peacock and Comma Butterflies, a speedy Merlin on the hunt for small birds and the arrival of spring migrants such as Swallow,Wheatear, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. Just over a week ago there was a period of overlap with the first Wheatear appearing around the
North West Zone and winter migrant birds such as Redwing and Fieldfare still knocking about.

I excitedly contacted Tom Forward about hearing a flock of Siskins along the River Mole (a species not yet on our
list in this area), when they somehow magically transformed themselves into a flock of
Redwings. But hey ho... when I listen to their recorded calls again online I still think their
chattering is kinda similar!
Hear the difference between Redwing song:

...and a flock of Siskin:

The Redwings all seem to have finally moved on, but not before giving us a special preview of their full song; an unusual occurrence around Britain as they don't tend to breed here. It is a sound which really grabs the attention, like a series of short descending blasts on a sports whistle...

And finally to finish off, here are a few more invertebrates I've been seeing around:

Biodiversity Gatwick Photos

Click here for project photos and snapshots of Gatwick's ecology

Glossary:

Biodiversity:

The variety of organisms found in a given area.

“The variety of life and its processes. It includes the variety of living organisms, the genetic differences among them, the communities and ecosystems in which they occur, and the ecological and evolutionary processes that keep them functioning, yet ever changing and adapting.” Noss & Carpenter (1994)

Ecology:

The scientific study of the relationships that living organisms have with each other and with their natural environment. Ecology addresses the full scale of life, from tiny bacteria to processes that span the entire planet.

LERL:

Land East of the Railway Line (One of our conservation sites)

NWZ:

North West Zone (Another of our conservation sites)

Organism:

An individual animal, plant, fungus or single-celled life form

Habitat:

The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism. e.g. woodland, lake, deadwood

Ecosystem:

A community of interacting organisms and their physical environment. e.g. a lake ecosystem contains water, chemicals, substrate, organisms.

Community:

An assemblage of two or more populations of different species occupying the same geographical area. e.g. grassland communities include grasses, insects and birds

Succession:

The process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. The community begins with a few pioneering plants and animals, developing through increasing complexity until it becomes a stable climax community. e.g. a volcanic island after an eruption, or a felled woodland

Competition:

The interaction between different organisms, where the presence of one lowers the fitness of the other